The Evil Within: The Executioner Review

"Horror Switch-Up"

Campaign

The Executioner is the last DLC for Bethesda's The Evil Within, and it's quite different than what we've experienced so far. For anyone that has played through The Evil Within two DLCs the Assignment and The Consequence, it's been a harrowing, often challenging, and sometimes frustrating experience. Playing is stressful in that intimidating, ever-present sense of uneasiness and dread sort of way. The Executioner continues that vibe, but you just feel much more in control this time around. The reason is that you actually get to play as The Keeper. The massive box-headed, huge spiked hammer-wielding character from the main game. The story behind this is your character is a father who jumps into STEM to try to rescue his daughter who is trapped within mobius. You try to find your daughter, but the state of her mind and memories are extraction from STEM and are unknown. This is a key plot point, but the one thing that is known is that if she is not saved, she will lose her memory and become one with mobius.

You start awaking in the stem as The Keeper. You'll notice that you play from a first person perspective and start with the keepers sledgehammer. In front of you the Victoriano Estate. First you notice there is no stamina meter so you can run forever but you run very slow. You can even do a short sidestep to avoid attack. On your short walk to the front door of the manor, you can smash barrels to reveal shiny coins. These are Memory Tokens used to purchase upgrades at the upgrade station.

In addition to wielding an awesome weapon you'll notice that The Keeper's has a very large HP meter. This time the gameplay of The Executioner is much more action oriented than survival horror. Surviving isn't too hard in this two hour DLC. The Executioner is a boss rush as you go from one boss encounter to another. There is little content or things to do in between and there are no puzzles to solve or items to find and beating this DLC. This change of pace from the original game felt refreshing but got old really fast.

As The Keeper your hammer is your main weapon but several other weapons can be bought or upgraded at the shop which are found next to save points. Barb Wire traps, dynamite, Molotov cocktails, and a rocket launcher are some of the items you unlocked as you play. You have the ability to purchase upgrades for damage output for certain weapons that are made available after you clear a boss. Bosses are introduced by Mobius files that you read and get a short summary of the boss. You'll also find a dozen of short diary notes from your daughter that shows her increasing fall into the influence of Ruvik. In the Manor it acts as a hub for going to boss fights. The areas you visit from teleportation are familiar locations from the main game.

In addition to going from one boss fight to the next you can go to Execution Chambers which is short wave based encounters of challenging enemies. Your health and inventory items that are used and earned here are carried back so you can go into these with caution as you can come out with less health and items you started with. The main point of going into these is to get more Memory Tokens so that you can get more upgrades at the store. I only did three time before the game play got old really fast and the reward was not worth it. Going back and doing these in New Game+ is a great way to rack up Tokens fast. New Game+ also opens up a new secret battle and a new weapon.

The Conclusion

I believe The Keeper and how it does the first person view works her for what is a bruteforce encounters. In general, it all works pretty good. I like developers for making this DLC not to difficult there are sufficient health packs laying and you can get yourself plenty of Tokens early on. I liked that enemies can be stunned and can be quickly finish with executions that can be fun with the different versions of extinctions. The AI can be a bit weird or clunky at times and some minor quirks like that but overall no issue is notable enough to be the cause for any major concern especially when you keep in mind that this a $5 two hour DLC.

The Evil Within Review on Xbox One

Rating Overall: 6.0